Search

For many engaged in qualitative research with human participants, a common question can often arise: What happens when gatekeepers block access to participants? The multitude of themes of resistance used by school administrators to prevent public school teachers across Canada from taking part in an investigation of personal perspectives of secularism in their professional workspace is explored in depth. This research dilemma was overcome by the use of critical inquiry and the development of a “tree of responses” to respond to each attempt to halt professional dialogue nationwide. With this approach, our target of 120 teacher participants was achieved, allowing us to not only delve into secularism in schools but also consider the notions of teachers’ rights to participate in research along with the fear and confusion that can arise with the alleged sensitivity and controversy this topic raises in some of the minds of today’s educational leaders.

The marketization of higher education and focus on graduate employability and earnings data has raised questions about how students perceive their roles and responsibilities while studying for their degree. Of particular concern is the extent to which students identify themselves as consumers of their higher education, for example, whether they view their degree as a purchasable commodity to improve future earnings. This is because research has found that students with a stronger consumer identity perform less well academically. This study examined whether the negative impact of a consumer identity on academic performance could be explained by the impact of a consumer identity on the extent to which students adopt deep, surface, or strategic approaches to learning. The hypotheses were that the relation between consumer identity and academic performance would be mediated by approaches to learning, whereby a consumer identity would be associated with adopting a more surface approach and a less deep and less strategic approach. Undergraduates completed an online questionnaire that assessed the extent to which they identified as a consumer, their approaches to learning, and academic performance. The analysis partly supported the hypotheses: a stronger consumer identity was related to a more surface approach to learning. However, a surface approach to learning did not mediate the relation between consumer identity and academic performance. Conversely, a deep approach to learning mediated the relation between consumer identity and academic performance, whereby a stronger consumer identity was associated with poorer academic performance through its negative impact on a deep approach to learning. There was no relation between consumer identity and strategic approach to learning. Implications for students identifying themselves as consumers of their higher education are discussed.